<p>The purpose of this thesis is to examine the usability of the Umeå University library catalogue Album. The aim is to evaluate the catalogue in order to establish if there are any problems that could be solved by modifying the catalogue. The following questions are answered: How should a good catalogue be designed? Which problems are common when using a library catalogue? Is Album user friendly? Are there any problems that occur when using Album and how can the catalogue be changed to avoid the problems? To answer these questions I have performed a usability test in which five persons, all students, got to carry out twenty tasks in the catalogue and talk about what they were doing and thinking while doing the test. This method is a usability method called Think Aloud. After the test the users got to answer twenty interview questions about the catalogue. The material obtained from the test was analyzed and positive factors, problems and courses of action were picked out. The results of the study show that the hardest thing for the users is to perform subject searches. It is not clear what subject and classification is and the users don’t know how to search the Index. They also think it’s hard to know in which fields to search and which words to use. In this thesis I give suggestions to things that could be changed in Album to make it more user friendly and easy to use. Although there are some problems with the catalogue, the overall impression of Album seems to be positive among the users.</p>

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the usability of the Umeå University library catalogue Album. The aim is to evaluate the catalogue in order to establish if there are any problems that could be solved by modifying the catalogue. The following questions are answered: How should a good catalogue be designed? Which problems are common when using a library catalogue? Is Album user friendly? Are there any problems that occur when using Album and how can the catalogue be changed to avoid the problems? To answer these questions I have performed a usability test in which five persons, all students, got to carry out twenty tasks in the catalogue and talk about what they were doing and thinking while doing the test. This method is a usability method called Think Aloud. After the test the users got to answer twenty interview questions about the catalogue. The material obtained from the test was analyzed and positive factors, problems and courses of action were picked out. The results of the study show that the hardest thing for the users is to perform subject searches. It is not clear what subject and classification is and the users don’t know how to search the Index. They also think it’s hard to know in which fields to search and which words to use. In this thesis I give suggestions to things that could be changed in Album to make it more user friendly and easy to use. Although there are some problems with the catalogue, the overall impression of Album seems to be positive among the users.

Det finns många webbsidor och flera av dem erbjuder miljontals objekt. För att hjälpa användarna att hitta rätt objekt används rekommendationssystem. Det är viktigt att veta hur olika funktioner i systemen skiljer sig för att ge användarna rätt rekommendationer. Arbetet jämför två listor med kollaborativa rekommendationer, röstnings-baserade och visnings-baserade, för att ta reda på hur användare upplever att dessa skiljer sig. Det skapas en databas innehållande filmer som hjälper till att ta fram dessa rekommendationer. De användare som medverkar i undersökningen svarar på en enkät med frågor om hur de olika rekommendationerna skiljer sig. Resultatet visar att användarna inte upplever att listorna skiljer sig sett över hela undersökningen. Däremot finns det tendens till signifikanta skillnader på listorna med rekommendationer i vissa fall. För framtida arbeten är det mest intressant att byta ut den data som används för att ta fram listorna för att ta reda på hur det påverkar resultatet.

Some of the world’s most valuable companies today are platform businesses. Both smaller and larger companies are turning their product and service development from a linear developmentapproach to a platform approach. Despite the emerging studies on platforms, and even though studies on customer involvement have been performed for decades, there is an acknowledged research gap on customer involvement in the development of platforms. This thesis contributes to research by studying Tradera, an online small to medium-sized (SME) marketplace platform facilitating and enabling sales of goods through matching of sellers and buyers on the site. The study is based on an extensive literature search within the fields of customer involvement anddigital platform businesses. The results were based on qualitative data received from exploratory studies in the form of 13 semi-structured interviews conducted at the company. The results from studying the company revealed the complexity in the product of being a platform as well as the complexity of the user base involved in the product development. The complex user base leads to heterogeneity in user needs and difficulty of knowing which users to involve and when to involve them in the product development in order to increase user satisfaction. There was also found to be difficulties in the allocation of resources for (SME)platforms regarding user involvement. Even though difficulties in user involvement were found, the research also showed the great resource of user data that is to be utilized. The purpose of the study was to map and refine the process of user involvement in the product development of an SME platform in order to increase user satisfaction. The study resulted in a framework and recommendation for how to find and involve users in the product development process. The recommendations are to be considered by SME platform businesses wanting to increase the user satisfaction of their product. / Några av världens mest värdefulla företag idag är plattformsföretag. Både mindre och större företag ändrar sin produkt- och tjänsteutveckling från en linjär utvecklingsstrategi till en plattformsstrategi. Trots ökade studier av plattformsföretag, och att studier on kundinvolvering har utförts i årtionden, finns det ett forskningsgap när det gäller kundinvolvering i utvecklingen av plattformar. Denna avhandling bidrar till forskning genom att studera Tradera, en liten till medelstor marknadsplattform som online underlättar och möjliggör försäljning av varor genom matchning av säljare och köpare på webbplatsen. Studien bygger på en omfattande litteraturundersökning inom områdena kundinvolvering och digitala plattformar. Resultatet baserades på kvalitativa data från undersökande studier i form av tretton semistrukturerade intervjuer som genomfördes på företaget. Genom att studera företaget avslöjades komplexiteten i att vara en plattform samt komplexiteten hos användarbasen som är involverad i produktutvecklingen. Resultatet påvisade att den komplexa användarbasen leder till heterogenitet i användarnas behov och svårigheter att veta vilka användare som ska involveras och när de ska involveras i produktutvecklingen för att öka kundnöjdheten. Studien visade också på svårigheter hos små till medelstora plattformar att fördela resurser till användarinvolvering. Förutom svårigheter med användarinvolvering visade även studien att det finns stora resurser i användardata som kan utnyttjas. Syftet med studien var att kartlägga och förfina processen för användarinvolvering i produktutvecklingen av små till medelstora plattformar för att på så sätt öka kundnöjdheten. Studien resulterade i ett ramverk och rekommendationer för hur företag kan hitta och involveraanvändare i produktutvecklingsprocessen. Rekommendationerna och ramverket kan implementeras hos små och medelstora plattformsföretag som vill öka användarnöjdheten hos sin produkt.

The following degree project is written within the department of Information Technology at Uppsala University. The subject studied is the difference between academic user research and such user research performed by professionals at commercially driven companies. Academic’s and professional’s agendas, interests and approaches seem to differ and consequently a gap emerges. To perform a comparison between academically defined and practically defined user research a case study and a literature study were conducted. During the literature study three main academic approaches to perform user research were studied and summarized in a unified view. The case study was performed over 4 months at Spotify in the User Research team to gain insights into how user research is conducted in a commercially driven company. The degree project shows that academics and professionals can benefit from each other. For example, academics can integrate various mix methods to better understand design and concepts and base assumptions on more reliable data. Professionals can benefit from academics by adapting a similar systematic approach to perform user research and have a larger impact on the development.